It was at least 12 years ago when I saw "Wicked" on stage in a Broadway Across Canada production. I remember hearing about this clever story even before that, where everything is told from the villain's point of view. Everyone has an origin story, and everyone's why has always been the story I love to read and see the most. This movie was shamelessly promoted for months and months before its release, and it is hard to live up to the hype, but it did, at least for me, it more than did. What I know about Ariana Grande was that she has a great voice and she can do singing impressions with remarkable ease, I had no idea who Cynthia Erivo was or whether she could match Idina Menzel's Elphaba. From my kid watching reruns of "Victorious" I saw Ariana had some years of comedic training, and even though you can't compare apples to pears, I can appreciate the character development from a one-dimensional dumb girl to a fun-loving good-hearted witch from Oz. The movie starts at the end, and Glinda (formerly known as Galinda), the Good Witch, tries to explain to the Munchkins that behind the Wicked Witch of the West, there was a very human woman with hopes and dreams and parents who failed her since the beginning.
What you can sense throughout the film is that every detail is accounted for, and it is a labour of love, one that took many years to bring to the big screen. The director, the cast, the original Broadway composers and screenwriters, as well as the original cast's cameos, confirmed this is a story as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. And this, a story told so many times, feels different and special because it is not a carbon copy of the original production. It has its own heart and merit, the singers, the choreography, the larger-than-life sets, the incredible supporting actors behind it, it makes the movie flow effortlessly. It is a long movie, 2 hrs. 40 min., but it felt like a blink, one in which I laughed, cried, felt seen, identified with, and outraged. I recommend you watch it in theatres if that is still possible, or just buy it to watch and enjoy from the comfort of your home as often as you want. We (my girls and I) have watched it at least 5 times already, and we have the movie soundtrack on repeat on Spotify. Warning: This is a musical, so if you are not into it, then don't watch it. However, from all the musicals I have seen, this one is very tolerable because of all the other components of the film. Kudos to the casting department, the actors delivered their best performance, from Popular Galinda (Ariana Grande), misunderstood Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), bad-boy Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey breaking hearts again), wise professor Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), master gaslighter of Oz (Goldblum) to evil mastermind M. Morrible (brilliant Michelle Yeoh). I hope the Academy doesn't do to "Wicked" what they did to the "Barbie" movie because it should be ok for a movie to be a box office hit and an award-winning production at the same time; sometimes all planets aligned.
Days after we watched it, my 10-year-old daughter asked me, "Mom, do you rather do good things but be seen as a bad person, or bad things but be seen as a good person?" thinking about Elphaba. I said, "I would rather do good things, even if nobody believes in them, even if it is not popular; doing the right thing should be the only choice." What an important lesson to leave behind, and who knew green goes so well with pink, wink-wink. This movie is already "part of my collection".
